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The United States looking for new ways to gain influence in Iraq and fears in Baghdad to transfer file to the "lower shelves"

(Voice of Iraq) - 06-07-2009 Washington, behind the high walls of Baghdad, the U.S. embassy in the Iraqi capital, diplomats are trying to find a new formula to influence policy in Iraq.

With a majority of forces now in the large bases outside the cities, the U.S. intervention in the daily life of Iraq is beginning to fade. And decisions, large and small, which was taken by U.S. commanders are now dramatically on the part of Iraqis. No longer in daily contact with American soldiers, tribal elders and heads of municipalities and the resistance elements and the owners of shops, a change welcomed by the majority of Iraqis.

According to the "New York Times" on Monday that although the U.S. President Barack Obama said that the strategy is the priority of the war in Afghanistan, his deputy, Joseph Biden, arrived in Baghdad last week to confirm that the United States is still interested in Iraq.

And many Iraqis say that since taking over the functions of Obama, it seemed as if American politics far to the lack of focus.

He said more than a dozen Iraqis in the policy makers interviewed said they felt that Iraq had been concerns about the location of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that the administration has not given much thought about Iraq, except for its determination to remove the troops from there.

It contributed to a sense of dissatisfaction with the drift in the time when Iraq is still without leave from the Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the arrival of his successor, Christopher Hill.

Biden's visit, too, were the elite of the Iraqi political kind, and to reassure them that the Americans are still standing on their side, although the question remains open as to whether Biden was able to make a difference.

Indeed, the problems which he hoped to solve are those that formed a source of embarrassment for the three former ambassadors and to President George W. Bush: political reconciliation among ethnic and sectarian groups, and the law of oil and gas revenues, which will provide for all of Iraq, and the solution - both associated with complex issues - the question of the disputed border between the region Kurdish and the rest of Iraq.

The Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd: "This is a real incomplete in the larger scheme of things. May have been to bring stability to Iraq and may face the" Al Qaeda "in the problem of re-assembly, and may no longer need to share, General Odierno, the almost daily processes, "in reference to the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno.

He added: "All of this might be true, but the major battle over Iraq, stability and security not yet earned, due essentially to the policies of the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds and Arabs. That there is a fundamental issues of power and resources and areas."

The speaker said Iyad Samarrai, the Iraqis welcomed the U.S. participation, but they looked forward to further details. He added that the Americans have said they will focus on supporting institutions, and not support the people. "He said:" Well, this is good, but how are you going to do that? What are the institutions that Stdamonha and how? ".

Upon his departure to Iraq, said Biden, a reporter for the newspaper "New York Times" that he has received a letter from Iraqi officials fear that Iraq was not a key priority for Obama. Biden said he was surprised to hear that, and that he tried to allay these fears. He noted that one of the officials, who did not specify his name, told him: "We are concerned that we conveyed to the lower shelf." Biden said: "I told him that this is not the case."

The paper adds that Americans should find a new tone in dealing with Iraqi politics. They have a reputation of being Jairon, because they used to say to the Iraqis what they do rather than what they need Isolohm - a legacy from the period when U.S. officials as an occupying force. Now, at a time when Iraq became a sovereign state in most areas, this approach only breeds animosity.

In spite of that the Americans helped the most prominent Iraqi politicians, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, in access to power - and stay there - he can no longer expect that the Iraqis recognize this assistance, because they are close to the Americans threaten alienating ordinary Iraqis.

"Abdul-Karim Abbas, who runs a shop for the sale of soda in the wholesale district, a mixed Shi'ite and Sunni working-class, Americans are facing an obstacle because they are in itself raises suspicion among the people. He added: "This would complicate things, because there are a lot of parties that do not want the Americans to intervene."

Abbas said: "The Sunnis accused Shiites and Kurds to work against them. There is no confidence in the Americans because they made us fight each other." Echoing the argument heard often in the streets that the Americans are the ones who brought the sectarian conflict in Iraq, and that the communities had lived peacefully together in the past.

Regardless of who brought the sectarian tendency, the general parliamentary elections scheduled for January (January) next appears likely it will already by sectarian lines. Shi'ite political parties tend to form a coalition with the support of a unified Sunni names only. This year has been paid to stand together to increase the number of the seat, which will get them to the maximum - thus perpetuating the pattern of the Lebanese political, where the distribution of ministerial posts according to ethnic and sectarian lines.

The Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, an Islamist party was founded in Iran, is one of several parties that support the return to a united Shi'ite coalition. He had lost seats in the provincial elections and is looking for a way to regain his place. Members say that many people trust individuals or as members of small parties never failed to get even one seat. Ammar al-Hakim, the son of the leader of the Muslim Council of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and possible successor: "If we had the largest blocks, this will lead to less loss of votes."

In northern Iraq, the competition for control of the Kirkuk province, and through control over some of the richest oil fields in Iraq, is in a tense stalemate. He rejects the Kurds and Sunni Arabs, Turkmen and even a waiver of one inch.

Said Joost Hetlrman, an analyst on Iraqi affairs working for the International Crisis Group: "Iraq will not stay together if there is no oil law that links the country together through the flow of income: that 95 percent of the Iraqi budget, and you can not leave it slip. He added: "The Obama administration is well aware of that. The analysis is, but the enthusiasm is missing."